Pashtun Times Latest News

KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani has asked regional countries for greater cooperation in the fight against terrorism — a huge threat to Afghanistan and other states. A statement from Presidential Palace said on Saturday Ghani issued the call at 17thShaghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on Friday in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana. He extended congratulations to India and Pakistan on becoming permanent members ...

KABUL: The national unity government has declared Saturday a day of national mourning following deadly terrorist attacks in Kabul, in which hundreds of people were killed and wounded. A statement from the presidential palace to Pajhwok Afghan News said the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul, Khost and Herat killed and maimed a number of countrymen. It said the people of ...

LONDON: A last-minute election called, thrilling campaigning and a hung parliament at the end. Theresa May thought she could increase her majority prior to starting the EU Brexit negotiations and so, despite denying it several times, she called a general election. The campaign started with the Conservative Party (right-wing) well in front in the polls, but Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn ...

The May 31 Kabul truck bomb attack, the worst since 2001, shows that Pakistan won’t change its support for terrorism inside Afghanistan unless there is a strategic shift in US policy towards Pakistan. How Ghani’s appeasement towards Pakistan has worsened the situation inside Afghanistan. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani referred to Pakistan nine times in his 36-minute speech at the Kabul ...

LONDON: Prime Minister Theresa May was fighting to hold on to her job on Friday as British voters dealt her a punishing blow, denying her the stronger mandate she had sought to conduct Brexit talks and instead weakening her party’s grip on power. With no clear winner emerging from Thursday’s parliamentary election, a wounded May signalled she would fight on, ...

LONDON: Sterling dived and the FTSE share index was set to fall 1 per cent on Friday after a shockingly bad election result for Prime Minister Theresa May plunged Britain into political chaos days before the start of Brexit talks. The surprise of a result that raises questions about how Britain will advance with its plan to leave the European ...

BEIJING: China on Wednesday dismissed as irresponsible the annual US Defence Department report that predicted China would expand its global military presence. The defence ministry in a statement refuted the US assessment, saying “China is not doing any military expansion and does not seek a sphere of influence”. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a briefing that China “is ...

A Pentagon report released on Tuesday singled out Pakistan as a possible location for a future Chinese military base, as it forecast that Beijing would likely build more bases overseas after establishing a facility in the African nation of Djibouti. The prediction came in a 97-page annual report to Congress that saw advances throughout the Chinese military in 2016, funded ...

WASHINGTON: Pakistani Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Wednesday had heated exchanges with ex-American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad over the allegations of terrorist safe havens in his country. A Washington audience burst into laughter when Chaudhry claimed Taliban leader Mullah Omar was not in Pakistan, as Khalilzad challenged his assertion and said there was enough evidence to the contrary. Other panelist — ...

KABUL: The leader of the Hezb-e-Islami Party, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar on Thursday announced his strong support from the current state system, calling on the nation to protect their unity. Speaking at a press conference, Hekmatyar called the peaceful protest as the “certain right of every citizen”, but said that nobody has the right to block public ways and cause harassment to ...